Bradford Downtown Historic District

The story

Written by AI from this property's National Register nomination and the record above; every sentence is checked against its sources before it appears here. Corrections: privacy@treealive.com

The Bradford Downtown Historic District is a historic district in Bradford, McKean County, roughly bounded by Central Alley, Barbour, Bushnell and Davis streets, Howard Place and Boylston Street. Its 129 contributing buildings, plus one site, one structure and five objects, were built from about 1870 to 1950, in styles ranging from Italianate and Romanesque Revival to Colonial Revival, Neo-Classical Revival and Art Deco.

Why it's listed

It was listed in the National Register in 2000 under criteria A and C, with significance in architecture, commerce and industry at both the state and local level. Its period of significance runs from about 1870 to 1950, the years bracketing the Bradford oil field's record production in 1879.

Physical character

Most buildings are brick on stone or brick foundations, though some have wood-frame or weatherboard walls, and roofs are slate, metal, asphalt or flat. Storefronts still show cast iron elements, pressed metal facades and prism-glass transoms, and the district keeps its historic brick paving and a limestone kiosk.

Historical context

The first oil well in the Bradford field was drilled in 1861, and the borough incorporated in 1873; by 1879 the oil boom had spurred growth, and Bradford's status was elevated to a city. Fire reshaped downtown repeatedly: forty buildings burned in 1878, four acres of buildings in 1880, the Bay State Hotel and seven more buildings in 1896, and seven buildings on Public Square in 1897.